Unbroken Jewish Life in Jerusalem Under Ottoman Rule (1517 – 1917)

In the year 1517, the Ottoman Empire conquered Jerusalem and the rest of the Land of Israel from the Mamluks during yet another fierce and bloody battle for the Holy City. During the 400 years of the Ottoman Empire’s rule over the Land of Israel, the Jewish People continued an unbroken chain of living in Jerusalem and other key cities in the Land. During this time, Jerusalem remained an undivided city, as it had been for the thousands of years beforehand under the rule of many different empires. Jewish families were settled and well-rooted in Jerusalem well before the Ottoman armies conquered the region. The Jews continued living there with much devotion despite many hardships, and over the centuries, the community continued to grow. No other people maintained this unbroken chain of living in Jerusalem.

Photo Credit: Ottoman Imperial Archives [License]

Following the Ottoman conquest in 1517, the Land of Israel was divided into four districts and attached administratively to the province of Damascus and ruled from Istanbul. At the outset of the Ottoman era, an estimated 1,000 Jewish families lived in the country, mainly in Jerusalem, Nablus (Shechem), Hebron, Gaza, Safad (Tzfat) and the villages of Galilee. The community was comprised of descendants of Jews who had never left the Land as well as immigrants from North Africa and Europe.

Orderly government, until the death (1566) of Sultan Suleiman the Magificent, brought improvements and stimulated Jewish immigration. Some newcomers settled in Jerusalem, but the majority went to Safad where, by mid-16th century, the Jewish population had risen to about 10,000, and the town had become a thriving textile center as well as the focus of intense intellectual activity. During this period, the study of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) flourished, and contemporary clarifications of Jewish law, as codified in the Shulhan Arukh, spread throughout the Diaspora from the study houses in Safad.

Learn more about the Jewish history in unified Jerusalem.

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